NEWVILLE — All things considered, it served as a quality tune-up for what lies ahead.

In a game delayed by an hour and later called in the sixth inning due to darkness, the Greencastle-Antrim varsity softball team came up short in Wednesday's semifinal of the Mid-Penn Conference tournament, losing 3-0 to Cumberland Valley.

Scheduled as the second of the two semifinals played at Big Spring High School, a pair of stoppages in the first game pushed the Blue Devils' start time back to 7 p.m., thus allowing for roughly an hour of daylight.

Impressively, the game managed to reach the sixth inning before ultimately being cut short by the presiding umpires.

"Considering the circumstances, I thought we handled things pretty well," G-A head coach Mark DeCarli said. "We let them score three runs in the first inning and then settled down and hung right in there. Of course we wanted to win, but it was still a nice preparation for districts."

Despite the Blue Devils (15-6) registering more hits and committing fewer errors than the Eagles, the difference indeed came down to the opening frame, with Cumberland Valley stringing together three singles and stealing a total of five bases to take control early.

An RBI single from Rachel Mumma initially put CV on the board before a two-run connection by Summer Keefer extended the lead to 3-0.

From here, sound pitching and solid defense took over the show, with neither side truly threatening until G-A's trip to the plate in the top of the fifth.

Back-to-back bunt singles from Haleigh Regal and Mary Ward led off the inning prior to Whitley Mongan reaching on an error, leaving the Blue Devils with the bases loaded and no outs.

Unfazed, CV starter Kayla Sullenberger remained in control, inducing three consecutive ground balls to get a pair of force outs at home en route to working out of the jam unscathed.

With darkness looming, a quick bottom of the fifth allowed the Blue Devils an additional chance in the sixth, only to come up empty in what turned out to be their final opportunity of the night.